Research has found that experiencing financial difficulties at university may increase the risk of developing an eating disorder among female students.

On the other hand, the study also discovered that having extreme attitudes to food and eating (like feeling guilty after eating) predicted short-term financial difficulties for female students and suggests the possibility of a 'vicious cycle' occurring.

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"There may be a vicious cycle' for these students, where negative attitudes towards eating increase the risk of financial difficulties in the short term, and those difficulties further exacerbate negative eating attitudes in the longer term," said Thomas Richardson, lead author of the study from University of Southampton.

The researchers also studied the relationship between socioeconomic status and eating attitudes. They were surprised to find a larger potential of potentially problematic eating attitudes in women from less prosperous families.

Over 400 undergraduate students from universities across Britain completed surveys about family affluence, recent financial difficulties and attitudes towards food and eating using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT).

EAT requests for responses to statements like 'I feel extremely guilty after eating', 'I am preoccupied with a desire to be thinner', or 'I have the impulse to vomit after meals'.

The results pointed out a relationship between financial situation and eating disorders in women, but not in men.

Details of the study were published online in The International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Tagsfinancial problems, money problems, Eating Disorder, socioeconomic status, eating attitudes